End of 2021 Newsletter

 Dear family and friends,

The year is almost over. After 2020, we are grateful for what we were able to do, even though it was a scaled-back version of pre-Covid years. Looking back, we want to give thanks to you who have encouraged, supported, and prayed for us this year. Most of all, we want this Christmas season to be a season of praise to God for His grace in our lives through this year so we filled in this “Thankful” acrostic.

Trip to South America: For the first time since Covid shut borders throughout our world, we were able to travel. In Arequipa, Peru, I taught about Biblical finances to the Bible Institute students and spent hours with the church leaders going over qualifications for those in leadership in the church. Joan taught the children’s workers how to plan lessons and advised the children’s teachers on developing their own curriculum.

Abigail and Joan

Health: Two years have passed since my stroke. Life changed dramatically that day, but God continues to give grace for ministry. I tire more easily, but the trip to Peru proved that being able to teach invigorates me.

Abigail: Abigail is an eleven-year-old girl in Peru. When she was three, her parents asked us to be her “spiritual parents.” Due to the distance between us, we cannot do much more than pray, but we are delighted to see her growing academically, socially, and spiritually. We look forward to seeing how God will use her.

Next year: We are expecting a busy year in 2022. Right now we are planning five trips abroad: to Bolivia, the Amazon, Luxembourg and Spain, Mexico, and Liberia. Of course, much can change between now and then.

Kindness of neighbors: We were in Maine when we received a call from our neighbor about a tree that had fallen in our yard. We are thankful that they were willing to check for damage to the house (none) and to take pictures for us.

Family and friends: The encouragement we receive from our family and friends helps to motivate us in our ministry despite fatigue or discouragement.

Unreached goals: We still have things we want to do before
God calls us home. We thank God for these unreached goals as they keep us pressing on.

Love: Your love demonstrated to us in many ways has encouraged us many times. However, God’s love keeps us throughout the trials and triumphs of life.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers. We look forward to seeing what God will do in the coming year.

Your partners with missionaries around the world,

Charlie and Joan Farley

Newsletter

Even though we cannot fly, time still does. We usually write these newsletters after trips abroad, but without trips to remind us to write a letter, we have let too much time pass since the last one.

We are in a season of slow recovery in our ministry. At the beginning of this year, we wrote to the people who were expecting us to work with them in 2020 to see if we could reschedule. At that time, things were still too uncertain to schedule anything, but Antonio Jordan in Bolivia asked us to come in 2022. Most of the others told us they didn’t know what to expect.

Slowly the world has started to ease up on restrictions, and we begin to hope that our travel will resume. IPM’s church planters in Liberia, Matthew Troy and Edwin Gbor, have asked us to come in November of this year. We are talking with other church planters in other countries to see if there might be a possibility of a trip in September or early October as well.  

The rocky coast of Maine.

In the meantime, we asked God to give us more opportunities here in the U.S. As a result, I have been preaching more and both of us have been teaching. In early May we took a trip to Maine for a niece’s wedding where I was able to preach four times during the 11 days we were there. At our home church in Georgia, we teach discipleship classes, children’s church, and fill in as needed in other ministries and in doing pulpit supply in other churches.

Recently we received a very encouraging note from a parent. “Thank you for speaking truth into the lives of my boys and letting the Holy Spirit guide your words. Through your teaching, the Holy Spirit convicted my son of a sin in his life. We were able to resolve the issue through tears and prayer. Thank you for being used of God to encourage deeper spiritual growth in my boys.” We are so grateful to see the Holy Spirit move in these young lives.

This summer we plan to spend a week in Wisconsin helping with a VBS. That was an answer to a particular prayer. You see, Joan wanted to attend a writer’s conference in St. Paul, MN and I wanted to attend a class at Central Seminary, but the two events had a week between them. When we prayed about it, we received an invitation to teach at a VBS in Wisconsin during the week between the two events. I will attend my class. We’ll go to Wisconsin for a week and return to the Twin Cities for Joan’s conference. Only God could have lined that up so beautifully.

I am in a season of slow recovery from the stroke that happened 18 months ago. I see progress here and there, but recently Joan became convinced that she should start asking God for complete healing, so that’s what we are doing. Please join us in praying for that.

We are also in a season of slow recovery in our nation. The Coronavirus will probably be part of our lives for the foreseeable future. The economy will wax and wane or maybe even falter, but the need to train national leaders will last until the Lord comes.

Your partners with missionaries around the world,

Charles and Joan Farley